Metro Transit recommends moving part of C-Line to Glenwood Avenue

When the new C-Line begins running in 2019, the metro area's second rapid bus line will provide faster and more frequent bus service between Brooklyn Center and downtown Minneapolis.

The line offering train-like service but using buses will feature stops only at stations spaced a half-mile apart rather than at every block and follow the current Route 19 bus line down Olson Highway and Penn Avenue.

At least at the outset. By 2021 when the Blue Line extension offering service from Target Field to Brooklyn Center is supposed to start running, light-rail trains and C-Line buses would share the same segment of Olson Highway and stations at Penn Avenue and Van White Memorial Boulevard.

To eliminate duplication of service, Metro Transit is proposing to move the C-Line off Olson Highway and north to Glenwood Avenue when light-rail trains begin running. By moving the C-Line to Glenwood, Metro Transit says that will "balance transitway service throughout multiple corridors, rather than concentrating investments on a single street, and provide access to a broader part of North Minneapolis."

The plan is to build three temporary bus shelters and stops on the Olson Highway, then replace them with permanent shelters when train service begins and the bus line moves to Glenwood Avenue.

The transit agency wants to see if the public agrees. On Tuesday, Metro Transit will hold an open house at 6 p.m.. and a presentation at 6:30 p.m.. at the Harrison Education Center to collect input. The center is at 503 Irving Avenue N., Minneapolis.

About 7,000 people currently use Route 19 each day and that number is expected to rise to 9,000 by 2030 with the C-Line in operation, the agency estimates. Route 19 buses would continue to operate, but at a reduced frequency.

Drivers can plan on more weekend closures in the spring as the $239 million I-35W downtown-to-Crosstown project continues until 2021. In a shred of good news, MnDOT will reopen ramp access from northbound I-35W to 5th Avenue on Monday.

Winter's arrival has not put the chill on road construction as drivers will encounter another weekend freeway closure in Minneapolis, and bridge work in Forest Lake is expected to bring traffic delays.